Bucks Seeks To Upgrade Bond Rating Move Could Save County $300,000 On Next Bond Issue

August 19, 1987|by DAN FRICKER, The Morning Call

Bucks County officials will meet tomorrow with representatives ofMoody's Investors Service in an effort to raise the county's bond rating from A1 to AA, a move that, if successful, could save Bucks as much as $300,000 on its upcoming $9.3 million bond issue.

Richard C. Gore, county director of finance, said Moody's told the county it will send a vice president-manager and financial analyst to meet key Bucks officials after the county last week sent the New York City company financial data and a bond issue statement.

"We're pleased that they're coming down," Gore said yesterday. "We believe we have a great deal to show them and a great deal to talk about with them."

Besides Gore, attending the meeting will be Commissioners Carl Fonash, Lucille Trench and Andrew Warren, Treasurer William Snyder, Controller Dan Lawler and Bob Dougherty, executive director of the Bucks County Industrial Development Corp.

They will try to persuade Moody's to raise the county's bond rating to AA. Bucks' bond rating was devalued from AA to A1 in 1976, Gore said. (Montgomery County has a AAA bond rating.)

More specifically, the commissioners think the county has the financial statistics, the financial programs and the socio-economic criteria to warrant a bond rating increase, Gore said.

Besides saving the county $300,000 on the impending bond issue, a AA bond rating would reflect the financial community's increased confidence in Bucks' leadership and financial programs, he said.

"It says that Bucks County is a good credit and those bonds should trade more favorably so it will have a definite benefit for the current bond holders," Gore said. The county now has $34.2 million in outstanding bond issues.

Bucks is expected to sell the $9.3 million bond issue in October. It will raise $1.3 million to complete the Central Bucks library in the formercounty prison in Doylestown and automate the library system, $3.2 million to build eight district justice offices, $700,000 to replace windows at Neshaminy Manor Home in Doylestown Township, $500,000 to construct an addition to the Domestic Relations court building, 30 Court St., Doylestown.

Also, $800,000 to relocate the sheriff department's holding cells and build a sallyport in the courthouse, $250,000 to improve the fire school burn building at Neshaminy Manor, $500,000 to complete 18 holding cells at the new county prison, $400,000 to construct a library branch in Perkasie, $190,000 to help complete the James A. Michener Arts Center at the former prison.

Also, $200,000 to renovate the control center building at the old prison; $150,000 for the Silver Lake Park nature center, $62,000 for Playwicki Park erosion control, $52,000 for Core Creek Park toilets, $102,000 for Tinicum Park toilets, $300,000 for improvements to the computer-aided dispatch center and $770,000 for contingencies, Gore said.